GRAND RAPIDS, MI — When Gov. Rick Snyder heard that other states are bad mouthing Michigan, he took that as a good sign.

He was talking with site selectors, people who help companies decide where to locate and expand. And they told Snyder that other states are now trying to make Michigan look bad. That didn’t happen before, they said.

That gets Snyder "all fired up," in a good way.

“That’s great. I’m really happy to hear that, because they didn’t take us seriously. So they didn’t say anything about Michigan because they figured we blew our own brains out with the Michigan Business Tax and some other things,” Snyder said.

Snyder spoke to more than 175 economic development leaders from several states at the National Economic Gardening Conference on Wednesday in Grand Rapids.

He touted the changes he made since taking office in January 2011, including eliminating the Michigan Business Tax and several tax incentive programs that went along with it.

He replaced them with a flat 6 percent corporate income tax and economic development strategy that focuses more on providing services (and some financial incentives) to help existing Michigan businesses grow.

Tax credits, he said, are “the heroin drip of government.”

“Governments have gotten addicted to giving out incentives, and if you think about it does anybody really win? No,” he said.

Certain organizations and businesses benefit at the expense of others, he said.

Instead of tax credits, Michigan now offers cash incentives to businesses through the Michigan Economic Development Corp. That includes $25 million for film projects and $100 million for business attraction and economic gardening.

So what’s this economic gardening all about?

“Most people are still learning about that concept, but it’s very simple: the best way to create more and better jobs is to support businesses and individuals already in our state,” he said.

And that doesn’t always mean handing out cash.

The MEDC’s Pure Michigan Business Connect helps companies find new customers and suppliers and assists with landing contracts and exporting. The MEDC also is urging Michigan companies to do more business with other in-state firms, said Douglas Smith, the MEDC’s senior vice president of business and community development.

“If I can find you a customer for your product because you’re in a supply chain that leads up to Meijer or leads up to Huntington Bank or leads to Consumers Energy, there’s no stronger incentive I can give you than a new customer, and it lasts a lot longer than any incentive,” Smith said.